


Counting Stars

by inmyrosegarden



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, larry stylinson au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-29
Updated: 2012-11-29
Packaged: 2017-11-19 19:23:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/576775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inmyrosegarden/pseuds/inmyrosegarden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry probably fell in love with Louis the time he looked into the audience and saw the other boy looking back at him fondly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Counting Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Augustana's "Counting Stars." I had such intense Larry feels after Harry recommended Augustana on Twitter the other day (idk why omg their songs are Larry-y). Absolutely love them. Thanks for reading my stuff!!! :)
> 
> tumblr: sexualstyless

There’s a boy in the pub, and Harry can see him clearly from the side of the stage he’s standing at.

He has light brown hair and he keeps toying with it. Whether it’s a sign that he’s uncomfortable, or whether it’s just a habit, is a mystery to Harry. But he’s intrigued and he’d love to know.

Harry wants to walk up to the boy and look into his eyes. He notices that the lad has a beautiful laugh that makes his eyes crinkle around the corners like he’s  _so_ happy with his life.

Harry smiles; he wants to hear experience the effect of that dazzling laughter up close.

“Styles! Have you plugged in the mic yet?” Dan, the pub owner, asked.

“Yes sir,” Harry replied, holing up the mic cable to prove that it was attached to the sound system. Before Dan could walk away, and before Harry could chicken out, he called out to him. “Dan!” he said loudly. He could feel the stares of multiple customers on his back, as anything over a whisper could be heard across the pub without difficulty. Harry unconsciously wondered if the boy with the beautiful laugh was looking at him too.

“What is it boy,” Dan rolled his eyes and walked over to Harry.

Harry gave him a cheeky smile. “I was just wondering if I could perform a song tonight?”

Dan blinked. “Since when the fuck d’you sing?”

“I don’t know I started when I was—“

“No, idiot, I didn’t actually want a  _response_ from you.” Dan rolled his eyes. “If I wanted you to sing I would be paying you to do it. And I am  _not_  paying you to do it. I’m paying you to pick up the shit that gets left on the tables.”

Harry laughed, accustomed to his boss’ banter. “No I want to do it for free. Please? Just one song?” He pouted, blinking his eyes innocently.

“Fine,” Dan sighed. “One song. And if you’re bad you’re fired. Understood?”

“Yes sir!” Harry stood up straight and saluted Dan.

“Go on then,” Dan chuckled and motioned towards the stage. “They’re waiting.”

“Yeah gimme a minute,” Harry said, sidetracked. “I’m gonna go find Niall to tell him I’m going first. Oh and I need to borrow his guitar.” Harry’s eyes brows furrowed. “Be right back!” and with that, he walked over to the bar where Niall was working.

When Niall saw Harry walking over, his expression became one filled of confusion. “Does Dan want me on early tonight?”

“Naw—hey actually. Basically, I’m kinda gonna perform a song first? And like, I was wondering if you mind me using your guitar? I know it’s last minute but I just—“

“Harry,” Niall smiled. “I’m so proud of you mate! Ahh! The world finally gets to hear your killer pipes!”

Harry blushed. “Well I mean, not killer or anything. Y’know, like maybe just average?”

Niall snorted. “Mhm, you keep thinking that. When the place goes mad, you’ll understand what I mean.” He reached under the counter and pulled out his guitar, which he then handed over to harry. “Tune it as you need to mate. I’ll be rooting for ya.”

“Thanks,” Harry mumbled, suddenly nervous. He never was the person to get up in front of people to sing. Sure he could do fine when it was just him and Niall, but the idea of singing in front of people he didn’t know scared him. Singing is such a beautiful thing that displays a person’s inner emotions and it shows raw passion. Harry didn’t know whether or not he was ready to share that with the rest of the world.

But he couldn’t back out now. Dan would be upset and Niall would be disappointed. Harry sighed and thought back to the cute boy as he walked over to the stage, stepping up quickly and taking a seat on the stool. As he tuned Niall’s guitar, he thought about what urged him to do this.

 _I want to be desired by that boy,_ Harry thought.  _I want him to remember me._

As soon as people began noticing his presence on stage, they started quieting down. The chatting turned to quiet whispers as he noticed some of the regulars’ confused expressions.  _Without further ado,_  he thought.

He cleared his throat. “Uh—hello. I’m Harry.”

There were a bunch of giggles and a chorus of “Hello Harry!” throughout the pub; it was a tradition.

Harry grinned, feeling more settled and confident now that the audience seemed to be his friends. “Well I’ve never done this before—singing in front of people I mean. I do sing though. If it was my first time it would be quite bad, wouldn’t it—anyway—“

“C’mon Harold!” Niall screamed. Harry blushed. He was rambling.

“ _Any_ way,” a couple of people in the audience laughed. “I’m going to be signing  _Counting Stars_ by Augustana. Bear with me please.”

Harry drew in a deep breath. He started strumming the guitar as best he could, trying to turn the song, which was mainly one with piano, into his own rendition.

 _“Everything has a reason_  
Everything has a start  
Anything that ever burned  
Had a spark  
Anything I ever wanted  
Anyone I ever needed  
Always seemed to leave me standing in the dark,”

The audience erupted into applause and there were a few whistles. Harry smiled and tried to calm his emotions, on the verge of tears (don’t make fun! Harry’s just an emotional person, okay).

 _“Suddenly I’m caught in your light_  
Opened the door, and you stepped inside  
And I’m watching the hours  
Looking for reasons  
Find that I’m missing every beat of your heart  
‘Til you’re back in my arms,  
I’ll be waiting up, counting the stars  
Counting the stars.”

Harry continued the song, putting in every last bit of effort he could conjure up. This was his first performance and he wanted to make it memorable.

He casually looked over at Niall who was grinning from ear to ear and whooping and screaming occasionally. The boy was almost as happy as Harry was himself. He had to make an effort not to roll his eyes at how overdramatic his friend was being.

Next he looked over at Dan, whose jaw was hanging open slightly. It was safe to say Harry was surprised, but pleasantly so. Knowing how much of a critic Dan was made his reaction mean so much more to Harry.

Finally, he spared a glance at the boy with the hair, who was sitting far closer to the stage than Harry recalled.

The boy was smiling. It was a beautiful thing and Harry’s stomach swooped with butterflies because seeing it up close was all the more amazing. He had blue eyes like the ocean on a rainy day. Harry’s breath caught in his throat when it hit him that the boy was enjoying his performance.

Bringing back his cheeky attitude, Harry threw a smirk in the vague direction of the boy’s table. And when he looked back to catch his reaction, he noticed the other lad was blushing.

As the song approached the end and Harry strummed the guitar one last time, his heart soared. He had faced his fear. And by the sound of the audience, he performed quite well.

He smiled and mumbled a “thank you,” into the mic before getting up and shakily walking off the stage. He set Niall’s guitar down on the side and walked over to Dan, who was watching him with a single eyebrow raised. Harry laughed.

“ _Since when_ can you sing like  _that!?”_ Dan wailed.

Harry blushed again and glued his eyes to the floor.

“ _Un_ believable,” Dan muttered under his breath. Then he sighed and when Harry looked up, he threw an apron at him. “You still have a shift to cover. Don’t think your husky-sexy voice is going to get you off the hook.”

“You think my voice is  _sexy_ , do you?” Harry said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Dan winked. “Go.”

Harry went to the kitchen and washed his hands before picking up his notepad and walking back out to the dining area of the pub. As he walked around getting peoples’ orders, he was stopped a couple of times to be given a pat on the back for his performance. Every time, he blushed. But he was on cloud nine so frankly, he couldn’t care about his awkward display of emotions—

—until he heard a high pitched voice coming from one of the tables near the stage.

“Excuse me! Waiter?”

Harry turned around from where he was in the process of heading back to the kitchen.

He raised his eyebrows and noticed that the voice came from  _the_ boy. Who was looking at him…expectantly?

He cleared his throat and walked over to the table, where he noticed two other boys were also sitting. “Hello, can I get you lads anything?” he asked casually, attempting not to make his infatuation with the beautiful blue-eyed creature obvious.

“Actually, mate, I think Louis just wants  _you_ ,” the boy with the dark black hair said, smirking. Harry felt the heat flush across his face. Was this a dream?

“Fuck you,” the boy, Louis apparently, said to the other, kicking him not so subtly. Louis proceeded to roll his eyes at his friend, and then looked back at Harry. “Please excuse Zayn, he’s a pathological asshole.”

Zayn, the dark haired boy, replied, “Well even the poor boy knows himself that you’ve been eyeing him like a piece of candy all night Louis. You’re not good at being sly.”

“…Eyeing me like  _what?_ ” Harry choked out.

The two boys ignored him, choosing to, instead, continue to stare daggers at each other.

Then, “please excuse my boyfriend and Louis,” the third boy said. He chuckled. “They’re honestly not that bad once you get to know them. I’m Liam. Harry, right?”

Harry nodded, feeling his curls bounce in the process.

“Great performance mate! Loved the song choice! And you were bloody brilliant,” Liam said, eyes sparkling.

“Thanks!” Harry said, grinning. “I didn’t quite know what to expect, it being my first time and all.”

“Sure as hell didn’t seem like it,” Zayn said. “Really well done.”

Harry felt like his face was going to split in half, that’s how wide he was grinning. He hadn’t felt this happy in a long time. “Thank you, it means a lot that you liked it.” Toning down the large grin, he continued smiling politely and looked down at the table, positive that if he looked up, he’d only stare at Louis like an idiot.

“Aw curly,” Louis cooed. Harry’s head shot up and he blinked at the boy.

“You’re actually quite modest and it’s absolutely adorable,” Louis said almost breathlessly.

Harry’s heart was pounding in his chest and he didn’t know how to respond. Thankfully, he didn’t have to because Louis continued seamlessly.

“So what time are ya done with your shift?” he asked.

Harry turned around to look at the clock and winced. He cringed and Louis blushed. “Sorry mate, I totally get it if it’s not your thing, I just thought you were interested and I wanted to give it a go and—“

“Wait, what?” Harry cocked his head to the side, confused.

“Ugh I feel stupid throwing myself at you like that, I can’t believe I just—God I’m an idiot.”

“What’s he talking about?” Harry asked Liam, panicking.

“I think he just realized that you’re not gay,” Liam said awkwardly, playing with his fingers.

“I’m not—what?”

“Y’know that you don’t like cock,” Zayn said, raising his eyebrows.

“But I do like cock!” Harry cried. And then, he realized what he had just screamed out loud and he groaned and buried his face in his hands, mortified. He was blushing with an intensity that he never thought was possible.

Liam and Zayn erupted into laughter then, but Harry was unconcerned what they thought of him. He was an idiot, he knew that; it was only a matter of time before everyone else realized it to.

Instead, he peeked an eye out from behind his hands and glanced at Louis, who was staring right back at him, with…a  _fond_ expression on his face?

“So when’s your shift over then?” Louis asked, voice husky.

Harry gulped. “Ummm, basically in like, two hours? That’s why I made that face before. I actually erm—” he mentally kicked himself for saying the next part out loud, “—I quite like you?”

Louis smiled and his beautiful blue eyes crinkled up around the corners. “I quite like you too.”

Both boys forgot that Zayn and Liam were watching them from such a short distance, their eyebrows raised. But it didn’t matter. Where Harry was concerned, he and Louis were the only people in the room.

They both continued to look at each other and then Harry heard his name being called out from across the pub. “Harry! You lazy arse! Get back to work!”

Louis giggled and Harry’s heart melted. “I think you should go.”

Harry sheepishly scratched the back of his neck, already turning around. “Yeah, I think I should.”

As he began walking away, Louis said. “Harry?”

Harry turned around. “Yes Louis?”

“I’ll be waiting here. Until the end of your shift, that is. If you don’t mind, of course.”

Harry smiled widely, displaying his dimples. “I’d love it if you did.”

Louis bit his lip, trying to prevent the grin that was threatening to make its way onto his face. “Good.”

“Great,” Harry breathed, smiling. Then, he winked at Louis and walked off.

Two hours later and Harry and Louis left the pub, both content with how the night turned out.

It turns out Harry would never forget his performance. It was the night he met the love of his life.


End file.
